Montclair Cyclists Unite To Aid Local Food Pantry

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of a Montclair Patch community member. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.

On Sunday, Nov. 22, over 350 cyclists came together from all over northern New Jersey for the 9th annual Montclair Bikery Turkey Ride to buy and donate frozen turkeys for the Human Needs Food Pantry in Montclair.

The pantry, which serves families in Montclair, Glen Ridge, Bloomfield, Verona, Cedar Grove and Livingston and 16 other communities, provides bags of groceries to families in need throughout the year. Their need is the greatest during the holidays, and this year, the pantry was able to provide all the fixings for a Thanksgiving meal to 2,000 families.

Through the Montclair Bikery Turkey Ride, 585 turkeys were donated to the pantry, along with $32,000 in donations, including a match of $10,000 from Partners for Health Foundation. The donations, combined with the value of the turkeys, resulted in a gift of goods and services to the Human Needs Food Pantry of approximately $44,000. Over the last nine years, the Turkey Ride has collected over 3,300 turkeys and raised over $200,000 for the Human Needs Food Pantry.

On the Montclair Bikery Turkey Ride, the cyclists ride their bikes from the Montclair Bikery on Valley Road on a flat, circuitous route to the Brookdale ShopRite in Bloomfield, where they purchase a turkey. They place the turkey in their backpacks and ride it to the Human Needs Food Pantry at 9 Label Street in Montclair, where refrigerated trucks are standing by to hold all the turkey donations until the groceries can be distributed the Monday and Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving. The cyclists, who have ridden 15 miles at that point, are hosted for a warm-up celebration at Egans & Sons, next door to the pantry.

Mike Bruno, the executive director of the Human Needs Food Pantry, stated: “Thank you to the Montclair Bikery, the ride co-chairs Linda Sterling and Tami Furman, and all the generous sponsors who made this happen, but especially the riders. The combination of sheer commitment and positive energy was unbelievable as hundreds of cyclists came together to help people in need. When all the wonderful people who made this happen are gathered around their own tables with their families, they can feel good knowing that hundreds of local families are doing the same because of THEM.”

The pantry's number of clients continues to grow, with about 30 to 50 new families being added to their roster every month.

The Montclair Bikery would like to thank the event sponsors for all their support. These include: Amanti Vino, Brookdale Shoprite, Clara Maass Medical Center, Egan & Sons, Elliston Coaching, Jack Finn & Co, JAG-One Physical Therapy, Joan Barrett for Stanton Realtors, KIPP NJ, Modclair, Montclair Bread, the Montclair Kimblerley Academy, Moss & More, Parsons Cabinetry, Partners for Health Foundation, PowerBar, Saturn Wireless, Temple Ner Tamid, Thomas Direct, Trogon Construction Management, UNDRBUDR, and the Adornato, Glading, Formisano, Sterling, Rider, Clyne and Perl families.

The 10th Annual Montclair Bikery Turkey Ride is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022. Contact the Montclair Bikery if you would like to get involved.

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